Summer camp is a supervised program for children and/or teenagers conducted (usually) during the summer months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as campers .
The traditional view of a summer camp as a woodsy place with hiking, canoeing, and campfires is evolving, with greater acceptance of newer summer camps that offer a wide variety of specialized activities. For example, there are camps for the performing arts, rock music, magic, computers, language learning, mathematics, children with special needs, and weight loss. In fact, the American Camp Association reports that in 2006, 75 percent of camps added new programs. This is largely to counter a trend in decreasing enrollment in summer camps, brought about by smaller family sizes, the growth in supplemental educational programs and the popularity of electronic media, all of which have made keeping children inside and occupied much easier than in previous generations.
There are also religiously-affiliated summer camps, such as those run by Evangelical Christian groups.
The primary purpose of many camps is educational or cultural development. A summer camp environment may allow children to take healthy risks in a safe and nurturing environment.
Organization
In most camps, the adult supervisors are called counselors, but another name may be "cabin leader". In many camps, counselors are assigned to smaller groups of campers, called "bunks", "huts", "cabins", or "units", who participate in activities as a group. Counselors often share living accommodations with their bunk or other counselors. Most counselors are in their late teens or early twenties, as high school or college students on their summer break are frequently recruited.
At some camps, all campers stay overnight, and at some camps, so called day camps, the campers go home each night. Some other camps allow both day and overnight campers. In the USA, residential camps that have overnight facilities are sometimes called "sleepaway camps". Summer camp is often the first time that children spend an extended period of time away from home.
The practice of running residential holidays for children away from their own home seems to have originated in Appenzell in the Alps in 1876, when Pastor Bion set up holiday camps in which children made tree-houses, sang songs, did drama, made kites and had adventure games.
Post-war France used Pastor Bion’s model to take children who had grown up during the war years, away from cities, and their scheme ‘colonies de vacances’ became state controlled, part of their state education system for all children.
The American camps seem to have developed from a very different cultural root.
Summer camp around the world
USA
The American Camp Association (ACA) reports that 10 million children attend camp annually, and there are approximately 12,000 camps nationwide.
Camps include both religious, for-profit, nonprofit, and government camps. In the US, youth organizations, like the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, 4-H, the JCC, the YMCA, Camp Fire USA, and several religiously-affiliated groups are known for having many camps and integrating them with their own local organizations.
Canada
In Canada, summer camps are very popular. Similar to U.S. camps about 70% of Canadian camps tend to be affiliated with organizations, while the rest are private.
Summer camp fairs are held throughout the United States and Canada, usually during the winter months. Parents and children can meet camp directors and collect information about summer camps. Admission to these fairs is typically free.
Russia
In the USSR, the first summer camps were created shortly after its establishment and were called Young Pioneer camps during the Soviet Union's existence. Their number grew throughout the history of the Soviet Union and they numbered more than forty thousand in 1973, with 9,300,000 children attending them during their vacation every year. After the breakup of the USSR, the number of Young Pioneer camps greatly declined. However, many of the major camps still exist. There are 2,726 Residential camps (with 2,000,000 children), and more 40,000 Day camps (3,500,0000 children) in Russia (2006). Most of them was united by All-Russian Camp Association "Deti Plus" (Children Plus) in 1994.
France
In France they are called colonie de vacances or more recently centre de vacances . According to the French administration, more than 25% of French children attend this kind of "collective holiday" each year.
China
Most of the summer camps are sponsored by the educational bureau. However, nowadays, there are more privately-held camp programs. The traditional camps are only open to the selected students within individual school district. In the recent years, programs have started that are open to kids from different background and different regions. There are also programs tailored for international students who are interested in learning Chinese language and culture.
Finland
Many Finnish non-governmental organizations arrange summer camps for children in a wide variety of age brackets. Major organizers of summer camps are the scouts, sport teams and the orthodox and evangelic-Lutheran churches. The concept of summer camps arose with the rapid post-WWII urbanization and industrialization Finland experienced. The reason behind this was that Finnish pedagogues of that period, influenced by the values of the largely agrarian pre-WWII society, were convinced that an urban lifestyle was harmful for the development of children. The idea behind summer camps was to ensure that children had experiences of the countryside, experiences that would aid in development into a decent citizen.
One Finnish tradition also arose soon after WWII, was confirmation camps. Confirmations camps, religious camps for 13-16 years old youths organized by the local churches, aimed to combine the traditional concept of confirmation school and the newer concept of summer camps in order to battle secularization of the society. The concept was successful enough to such an extent that today, 90% of all youths participate in confirmation camps. The camps' require their participants to learn certain religious texts, such as the catechism, and the Lord's prayer.
There are a number of non-religious alternatives for confirmation camps, such as the Prometheus Camps, which aim to generate a positive intellectual and social atmosphere for the participants of the camp without religious tuition.
Sweden
The church of Sweden provides confirmation camps, usually combined with outdoor life.
United Kingdom
Summer camps are not a regular part of childhood in the United Kingdom, as they are in the United States. The term "summer camp" itself is not considered to be British English (the industry body is called the British Activity Holiday Association). Camps in the UK are also generally less specialised than that within the United States and most offer a fairly broad Multi-Activity programme of adventure activities alongside some fun social elements. This is partly because summer camps in the UK grew as an off-shoot of the activity holiday industry and therefore was very influenced by their adventure-only outdoor programme. The UK has for the past few decades had a number of organisations that have established themselves more along the traditional American Camp model with a very wide range of holiday options as well as themed camps and major event days. Noticeably in recent years they have stopped marketing themselves as "American-style" possibly because the US is generally unpopular in most of Europe, or because the English summer camps are better established with greater awareness from parents as to what exactly they offer young people. Some religious groups, such as the Christadelphians, also run well publicised and attended camps throughout the country.
A very successful attempt to introduce residential summer camps to the UK was made by an organisation known as 'The Council of Colony Holidays for Schoolchildren' which ran summer camps called 'Colonies' from the mid 1960s to the mid 1980s. Colonies were not based on outdoor pursuits or the 'action-adventure' model, but were multi-activity holidays designed to appeal to a very wide range of children. This organisation was based on the French model, and was unique in the UK in that the young people who worked directly with the children (known as 'Monitors') were unpaid volunteers, and also were rigorously prepared for their work in training courses designed and run by the organisation itself. CCHS had considerable support from the educational establishment and both the residential holidays and the training courses were highly regarded.
A successor body to CCHS, know as 'The Active Training and Education Trust' was formed in 1996. This organisation runs residential summer camps known as 'Superweeks' using the same structure, ethos and training courses that were developed by CCHS.
Popular Camps in the UK include Sunshine Studios Hip Hop Summer School and MJA Language language course, which also offers lots of other activities.
Australia
Summer camps are less popular in Australia, possibly because summer activities such as swimming lessons
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